Toy ball game with play mechanism

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a toy ball game comprising a horizontally extending playface and having a play mechanism in the form of a toy figure arranged in such position on the playface that it protrudes thereabove and is arranged for being flexed away from a neutral position and by spring force revert to that neutral position whereby a face on the mechanism is able to transmit energy to a ball in order to cause the ball to move away from the mechanism and across the playface. The play mechanism is able to rotate about a vertical axis to enable the toy figure to face in the direction of his kick. From the mechanism an arm protrudes transversally and it is arranged to perform, in response to an influence exerted vertically by a finger, a flexing of the mechanism away from its neutral position. A face on the mechanism has a concave shape that matches the ball thereby allowing the ball to remain steadily positioned in contact with the concave face which means that the ball will always be positioned in front of the figure.

This invention relates to a toy ball game with a field or a playface,wherein said playface comprises one or more mechanisms that protrudeabove the playface. The ball game can be a football game, and in thatcase the mechanisms simulate players on the field and are resilientlymounted on the playface and arranged for a user to manually flex themaway from their neutral position. When a mechanism is subsequently letgo, it will—due to the spring force—revert to its neutral position, thereturn movement of the mechanism will impart kinetic energy to a balllocated on the playface close to the mechanism, ie at the foot of asimulated football player, whereby a kick is simulated that causes theball to travel across the playface.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,086,778, U.S. Pat. No. 3,118,673, DE 1,163,712, and DE2,263,398 disclose such toy ball games wherein the players on the fieldare figures with human features, and wherein there are provided at thefoot of the figure disc-shaped, spherical or barrel-like base elementsthat have circular horizontal cross sections. When such figures areflexed away from their neutral position and let go, following whichspring force causes them to revert to their neutral position, the baseelement will impart ‘a kick’ to the ball whereby the ball is caused tomove away from the figure.

These prior art toy ball games are associated with several drawbacks.The play figures in all of these prior art toy ball games are mounted onthe field in such a manner that they are unable to rotate about avertical axis perpendicular to the field, while all players have apermanent orientation relative to the field whereby their faces areoriented eg in their own direction of attack. When a player is to kickthe ball in a direction which is different from the direct attackdirection, the figure has to kick the ball sideways or even backwardsrelative to his own orientation. This is unrealistic.

It is a further drawback of the prior art toy ball games that it isdifficult to aim accurately with the player figures with ensuing poorkicking accuracy which results in frequent misses of the aim.

It is yet a further drawback of the prior art toy ball games that theuser will naturally seize the head of the figure to flex the figure awayfrom its vertical, neutral position. The figure being in the flexedposition, the user has to aim by changing or adjusting the flexingdirection while simultaneously having his hand or at least a finger onthe figure's head where the hand prevents a clear view and thus also anaccurate aim.

These an other drawbacks are remedied with a toy ball game according tothe invention where the figures are able to rotate about an axis whichis vertical or perpendicular to the field. Hereby a user is able torotate the player figures in such a manner that the figure to beactivated to kick the ball turns its front in the direction of aim whichmakes the game more authentic.

An arm that protrudes horizontally from the player figures enables theuser to flex the figure away from its neutral position, which is usuallyvertical, by pressing that arm downwards. The hand of the user willhereby be located considerably lower than is the case when he seizes thefigure at its head, and thus the hand will not prevent the user fromobtaining a clear view in the aiming direction. Hereby the user obtainsan improved overview of the game and a more accurate aim is herebyallowed.

In accordance with the invention the base elements of the player figureshave a concave shape that matches the ball which permits the ball tooccupy a stable position when in contact with the concave shape at thefront of the base element. When the user changes his direction of aim byturning the player figure, the ball will follow and always be accuratelyand steadily positioned before the figure, and the user is allowed tokick the ball exactly in the desired direction.

The invention will now be explained with reference to a preferredembodiment and the drawings, wherein

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a field for use in connection with theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective top view of a play mechanism for positioning onthe field shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective bottom view of the play mechanism shown in FIG.2;

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the play mechanism shown in FIGS. 2 and 3;

FIG. 5 is a partially sectional view through a field wherein a playmechanism is mounted; and

FIG. 6 is a top view of the field with the play mechanism shown in FIG.5.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a field which, in this figure, consists oftwo rectangular field elements 10, 11 that are arranged adjacently eachother. The field element 11 is square and the field element 10 isrectangular, its short side having the same length as the square element11 and with a ratio of the long sides to the short sides of two to one.Laterally the field elements 10 and 11 have a number of rectangularcavities 13, and at the bottom of each cavity 13, two cylindricalcoupling studs 14 are provided. The field elements 10 and 11 arearranged to border on each other at respective sides, and the cavities13 in the two field elements jointly form a cavity with a squarehorizontal cross section. A known, square building element 15 having a(not shown) coupling cavity at the bottom can be arranged in the cavitythat consists of the two rectangular cavities 13 on the two fieldelements where the coupling studs 14 are, in a manner known per se,received in the coupling cavity at the bottom of the building element 15in a frictional engagement with the sides of the coupling cavity. Herebythe top face of the building element 15 will level with the top face offield elements 10 and 11. Each of the field elements 10 and 11 has a topface with a hollow or a cavity 16, and centrally in the hollow 16, atthe lowermost point thereof, a tubular sleeve is arranged which will beexplained later.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show a play mechanism 20 having at its bottom acylindrical stud 21 which is, at its free end, provided with protrudingsnap beads 22 and slotted to make the end of the stud resilient andcompressible. The play mechanism has a base element 23 in the form of acircular disc, the top face and bottom face of which are both arched ordome-shaped. On the top face of the base element 23 of the playmechanism, there are two generally cylindrical coupling studs 24 whichare, in principle, of the same kind as the coupling studs 14. At itsperiphery the base element 23 has a cavity 26, and at the bottom facethere is a corresponding cavity 27. The base element 23 of the playmechanism is secured to the stud 21 by means of a spring, such as a leafspring 28. The play mechanism has an arm which is arranged diametricallyopposite the cavities 26 and 27.

FIG. 5 shows the play mechanism 20 arranged on a square field element 11wherein the stud 21 has been introduced into the sleeve 17 in such amanner that the snap beads 22 are situated below the lowermost end ofthe tubular sleeve 17 in order to hereby secure the play mechanism witha snap mechanism in the sleeve to enable ready replacement. The playmechanism is able to rotate within the sleeve. A prior art toy FIG. 25is arranged on the play mechanism 20 with the coupling studs 24 receivedin corresponding coupling cavities at the bottom of the toy figure legs.The toy figure will simulate a football player, and it can readily beremoved from the play mechanism and be replaced by another toy figure.

FIG. 5 illustrates how an influence exerted on the arm 29 with adownwardly oriented force, eg by pressing the arm with a finger, canflex the play mechanism 25 away from of its neutral position as shownwith a dotted line and into a flexed position as it is shown with afully drawn line.

FIG. 5 also shows a ball or other spherical object 30 which is situatedin the cavity 16 where it will, due to gravity, seek towards the lowestpoint as determined by the cavities 26 and 27 in the base element 23,since the base element will in all other places protrude further in thehorizontal direction whereby the ball will, in all other positions inwhich it is in contact with the base element, be situated higher up inthe cavity 16 than is the case when it is in contact with the cavities26 or 27. In the neutral position of the player figure, the ball will bein contact with the cavity 26 at the periphery of the base element, andin the flexed position of the play mechanism, the ball will be incontact with the cavity 27 which is a continuation of the cavity 26.

In FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 the ball 30 is shown in the cavity 16 where the ballrests against the base element 23. Owing to gravity, the ball will seektowards the lowermost point in the cavity 16, and due to theconfiguration of the base element with the cavity 26 in the otherwisecircular periphery, the ball will, in the neutral position, be steadilypositioned in the cavity 26 of the base element, which cavity is infront of the player FIG. 25. When the play mechanism 20 with the playerFIG. 25 is turned such that the player figure faces with its front inanother direction, the ball will still remain in the cavity 26 in thebase element. This also applies to the ball in the flexed position ofthe play mechanism, in which it will remain in the cavity 27 on thelower face of the base element. The cavities 26 and 27 in the baseelement thus co-operate with the cavity 26 in the playface to ensurethat the ball will always be steadily positioned in front of the playerFIG. 25 on the play mechanism, and when the play mechanism is turned theball will follow and remain stable in front of the player figure. Thisallows the user to aim very accurately prior to kicking the ball.

In use, the game will function as explained in the following, assumingthat the game is a football game with two teams. When a player haskicked the ball, gravity will cause it to seek down into a cavity 16 atanother (or the same) player where it can abut anywhere on the baseelement of the play mechanism. Thus, by means of the arm 29 the user canturn the play mechanism until the cavity is in contact with the ball,following which the ball will rest in one of these cavities that areexactly in front of the player figure. Now the user can aim in aspecific direction by turning the play mechanism whereby the ball will,in accordance with the above, follow and remain in front of the playerfigure. Then the user will use his finger to press the arm 29 downwardswhereby the ball will be in contact with the cavity 27 on the bottomface of the base element 23, and also in this flexed position the playmechanism can be turned and the direction of aim can be changed. Theuser allows the figure to ‘kick’ the ball by letting go of the arm 29whereby the play mechanism will revert to its neutral position by meansof the spring, and by this movement the all will be ‘kicked’ away fromthe play mechanism.

The user can choose to flex the play mechanism much or slightly awayfrom the neutral position prior to kicking. Thus the user can choose tokick with low strength or with high strength. A low-strength kick willcause the ball to merely roll across the playface and a high-strengthkick will enable the ball to rise above the playface due to the cavity16 in the playface.

The toy FIG. 25 that simulates a player can be removed and replaced byanother figure. This enables the user to position his players on thefield as desired. The play mechanism with or without player figure canalso be removed and positioned as desired. This means that the playersare not restricted to specific positions on the field, and the user isallowed to select specific positions for his players prior to the game,and during the game it will be possible to move the players to otherpositions on the field, if desired.

What is claimed is:
 1. A toy ball game with a playface and a ball, wherein the playface has a horizontally extending top face and a play mechanism arranged above the playface, the play mechanism having a vertical axis and a contact face with a concave portion having a limited angular extension about the vertical axis so that the concave portion matches the ball, whereby the ball can assume a stable position in contact with the concave portion of the contact face, the play mechanism having a neutral position and arranged for being selectively flexed away from the neutral position and by spring force revert to the neutral position and thereby cause the ball to move away from the play mechanism and across the top face of the playface.
 2. A toy ball game according to claim 1, wherein the top face of the playface has a cavity with a lowermost portion, and wherein the play mechanism is arranged at the lowermost portion of the cavity.
 3. A toy ball game according to claim 1, wherein the play mechanism is selectively rotatable about a vertical axis.
 4. A toy ball game according to claim 1, wherein the play mechanism has an arm protruding transversally to the play mechanism, the arm being configured for responding to a force acting vertically on the arm to flex the play mechanism from its neutral position.
 5. A toy ball game with a playface and a ball, wherein the playface has a horizontally extending top face and a play mechanism arranged above the playface, the play mechanism having a contact face with a concave portion that matches the ball whereby the ball can assume a stable position in contact with the concave portion of the contact face, the play mechanism having a neutral position and arranged for being selectively flexed away from the neutral position and by spring force revert to the neutral position and thereby cause the ball to move away from the play mechanism and across the top face of the playface, wherein the play mechanism has coupling means for releasably securing a toy figure that simulates a player and has corresponding coupling means.
 6. A toy ball game with a playface and a ball, wherein the playface has a horizontally extending top face and a play mechanism arranged above the playface, the play mechanism having an arm protruding transversally to the play mechanism, the arm being configured for responding to a force acting vertically on the arm to flex the play mechanism from its neutral position, the play mechanism having a neutral position and arranged for being selectively flexed away from the neutral position and by spring force revert to the neutral position and thereby cause the ball to move away from the play mechanism and across the top face of the playface.
 7. A toy ball game according to claim 6, wherein the top face of the playface has a cavity with a lowermost portion, and wherein the play mechanism is arranged at the lowermost potion of the cavity.
 8. A toy ball game according to claim 6, wherein the play mechanism is selectively rotatable about a vertical axis.
 9. A toy ball game according to claim 6, wherein the play mechanism has a contact face with a concave portion that matches the ball, whereby the ball can assume a stable position in contact with the concave portion of the contact face.
 10. A toy ball game according to claim 6, wherein the play mechanism has coupling means for releasably securing a toy figure that simulates a player and has corresponding coupling means. 